


Bottle lust, brew affection, even stopper love

by Blackfirm



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Love Potion/Spell, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-26
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-31 18:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/347143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackfirm/pseuds/Blackfirm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Weasley twins learn that pissing off Hermione is not a good idea - their argument about love potions with the brunette reaches a new level when Hermione is not taken seriously at all. Who would have thought there was such a cruel side to her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hogsmeade’s shops were packed with students. This wasn’t unusual for any Hogsmeade weekend, but there was more to it this time. It was the last trip to the village before Christmas holidays. That meant two things: one, people were doing some last minute Christmas shopping, and two, it was snowing heavily. Students were huddled together, trying to get from shop to shop as quickly as possible without having to stand in the snow for too long. Their main destinations? Honeydukes and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. The latter of the two had opened soon after the war as Fred and George’s shop in Diagon Alley was doing splendidly. After Fred and George had made sure that Verity and their new employee, Chuck, were going to be fine in Diagon Alley (more than once, mind you), they focused all their time, energy, and resources on their new shop. The first one would always have a special place in their heart, but they wanted a fresh start after the war, a new project to focus on. What was better than another branch of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes close to their two baby siblings in Hogsmeade? Nothing. Plus, this way it was easier for the students to keep their stock of banned WWW products high all year long.

The announcement that they would open the new shop at the beginning of the school year had ruffled Hermione’s feathers. Thanks to Harry, Ron, and Ginny though, she soon forgot about it, and while she’d never openly admit it, she looked forward to new – and hopefully brilliant – products from the ginger twins. Right now, she was even visiting the shop together with her three best friends. Just like many other students, the quartet walked through the different aisles, the colourful display stunning, breath-taking even. However, when Ginny and Hermione tried to move past a crowd of giddy girls, all standing around the love potions, Hermione’s inner alarm bells started going berserk. The snippets of conversations she caught were more than worrisome. ‘Will you try it on him...?’ – ‘Of course!’ – ‘I bet I’ll get…’- ‘He’ll finally fall for me…’ – ‘Oh my God. I want a date with him so badly…’. And on top of that, their giggling was annoying. A snort escaped from Hermione’s mouth when she turned to Ginny. The younger witch’s amused expression earned her a disapproving head shake from her brunette friend.

“I can’t believe they’re still selling them,” Hermione muttered, her voice low. Ginny recognised the tone, realised that her friend was deep in thought over something. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was, but Hermione’s expression was almost as bad as when she was about to force a lecture onto Harry, Ron, or herself. Deciding that it was safer to keep quiet, the younger witch merely shrugged. Hermione seemed to take that as encouragement to go through with whatever idea she had formed in her head. It wasn’t like she’d listen even if Ginny told her to not do anything – Hermione had been announced Head Girl this year, and as such she felt responsible.

"See you later, Gin!" Hermione gave Ginny a small wink after she'd scanned the crowd, finding the two people she'd been looking for. The redheads were close to the counter, and with a stern look on her face, Hermione made her way over to them. Grabbing one arm of each twin, the witch dragged them both toward the back of the shop. Ginny watched her best friend, and sighed. While she searched for her other companion and brother, Ginny thought about what she was sure Hermione was planning to do – she was going to lecture her older brothers. Certainly over the love potions. If she were to be honest, Ginny believed that Hermione was wasting her time. She knew her the twin brothers, and could already predict the outcome. They'd be amused, and her brunette friend would end up being royally pissed off. She'd be left to deal with rants from all parties involved. Could she choose, she would put someone else in her position. No sane person would willingly choose to be in the position she was in, but alas, she had no choice. Looking one last time in the direction of the storage room, Ginny noticed that it was unexpectedly quiet.

***

Fred and George Weasley didn’t put up a fight when they were both dragged along. At first, too surprised to react, but once they had gotten over that, they noticed who had so forcibly removed them from their work. It was just Hermione, and the witch didn’t warrant putting up a fight. She dragged them into their storage room at the back of the building, her wand flicking to do two things: lock the door, and place a silencing charm on it, so that no one could eavesdrop. Once that was done, she finally turned to face them – her two victims. The twins immediately recognised the look, and quickly started talking before she had a chance to start yelling at them.

“While I do believe you look quite lovely - ,” Fred started.

“ – all flushed and angry. We two - ,” George continued, pointing at himself and his twin.

“ – ought to go back in there,” Fred finished, pointing at the door. “You should show us that dominating side of yours some other time, though. Maybe come over some night – “

“ – have a little drink with us – “

“ – a little chat – “

“ – let us show you our beds!” Wide grins were plastered on the twins’ faces.

“Great idea, Gred!” Fred exclaimed.

“I know, Forge!” George chimed right away. The two looked at each other for a second before focusing on Hermione again. Their exchange wasn’t out of the ordinary. They tried to talk like this as much as possible when Hermione was around, because they knew it annoyed the younger woman to no end. Both of them could see that her already flushed cheeks had reached a dark red colour. She was about to snap, making Fred and George stare all the more expectantly. They enjoyed it when she yelled at them, especially when she shouted their names on top of her lungs. When her anger boiled over like that she was really quite beautiful – the fire in her eyes, the crackling magic around her. Hermione looked intimidating; intimidating, but beautiful nonetheless. As it was, the brunette took a deep breath, planted her hands on her hips, and leaned slightly forward in their direction. In anticipation, the twins stepped back, leaning against a shelf.

"How dare you speak to me like that!” she spat, her eyes darting back and forth between Fred and George. “I will never, I repeat never, sleep with either of you.” Her brows furrowed. “Or both!” she quickly added, seeing as Fred’s mouth had opened. The wizard chuckled, holding up his hands in defence.

“Shame!” George murmured with a straight face, using all his composure. Huffing in response, Hermione held up a hand.

“Enough! Stop distracting me! I came in here for a reason. You have to stop selling these love potions,” she explained, standing up a little straighter in an attempt to appear more intimidating. For a second, she received nothing but stunned silence from Fred and George. However, that didn’t long and their silence turned into laughter – hearty laughter -, making Hermione flush even more. 

“Did you hear - ?” Fred asked, breaking off to clutch his hands to his sides.

“Yes! Hilarious!” George gasped as he held on to Fred’s shoulder to prevent himself from falling over. Hermione’s cheeks puffed out as she patiently waited for their laughter to abide, only tapping her foot a little. It took them a while until they were able to look at her without any more chuckles bursting free. The witch, challengingly as always, raised an eyebrow at them. 

“No, seriously, Hermione. You’ve gotta be kidding,” George ventured. Hermione only shook her head, indicating that she was indeed not kidding. Fred snorted.

“She doesn’t joke. Ever,” he muttered, nudging his brother, who couldn’t keep in a low chuckle. The young woman scowled at the pair in front of her before she spoke up, her voice calm and steady.

“They are dangerous. They fake feeling, and girl as well as boys – more girls than boys, certainly – do stupid things with them. You have got to stop selling them. Playing with the feelings of young witches and wizards like that is wrong.” The twins weren’t surprised by Hermione’s little speech – they listened with smiles slowly spreading across their faces once again.

“Oh, come off it!” Fred exclaimed, waving her off. They didn’t see the danger? How could they not? For a moment, Hermione stared at the twins in disbelief. The moment she recovered, she simply removed the silencing charm and unlocked the door.

“You two,” she growled, “will regret this.” Her eyes flashed dangerously, and she poked each of the twins in the chest with her index finger. Huffing one last time and flipping her hair over her shoulder, Hermione turned around and stomped out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her, causing the twins to wince. This is probably not good. After all, she had always been top of her class. Over the years, Fred and George had seen Hermione’s cunning side quite a few times. She had never used that brain of hers to plot against them, however. Fred turned and looked at George, his twin returning the gaze.

“She wouldn’t do anything to us,” George stated, but he couldn’t prevent his uncertainty from showing. Fred shrugged with a sigh.

“It’s too late to back-paddle, now. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” he replied before he opened the storeroom door to get back to work. George followed him, and was instantly taken aback by the whispers and stares. Fred only noticed the change in the crowd once he had reached the counter, and he shot George a worried glance. Hermione had, without her even knowing it, started up some new rumours. Hopefully, that’d be a deterrent for future dragging into storerooms. The chaste Gryffindor princess had just blatantly made clear she’d never sleep with either of them. Or both! A little quickie in the back of their shop with half of Hogwarts in the same building would just be unthinkable! Clearly Fred, George, and most of the Hogwarts student body thought quite differently. Hermione had always been too innocent for her own good. Storming out of a storage room looking all flushed and dishevelled, after the door had been locked for a good while, would obviously lead to only one conclusion as long as the minds of hormonal teenagers were at work. The thought actually provided entertainment for the twins, and Fred couldn’t help but chuckle. 

Two sixth year girls approached him, still whispering and shooting glances back and forth between the twins, before asking for Fred’s assistance. The Weasley went off with the two students, leaving George to scan the crowd. He couldn’t see Hermione anywhere, and came to the assumption that she must have left with the three people, who seemed to be always glued to her side. Oh well. Rubbing the back of his head, George went to help a few other customers. The twins should have been more worried, but then again, they never worried about that many things anyway. Plus, they didn’t know that Hermione had made a purchase before she left. A heart shaped flask: one of their love potions. Even though she’d had only a few minutes before the twins followed after her, Hermione had come up with a wicked plan that’d teach them to listen to her when she was dead serious.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione had been in an exceptionally good mood the whole morning. Today, they would be arriving at the Burrow, and it would be Christmas soon. Her mood was slightly alarming for Harry, Ginny, and Ron, but they figured that she was up to something. What exactly the Head Girl had in mind they didn’t know, and they didn’t try too hard to find out what it was. It would probably be worth a good laugh, seeing as it was Hermione planning. Her giddiness indicated that everything was going according to her plan. Hermione had to admit that it had been a difficult task in the beginning – she’d had to analyse the potion from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes to find out the ingredients the twins had used after which she adjusted the potion for her cause. The witch wanted Fred and George to beg for her forgiveness. Trying to focus on her book once again, she shifted a little in her train seat. After a short while, she gave up on reading with a sigh. Both Ginny and Ron looked up at her, but Harry was still fast asleep, his head resting in Ginny’s lap.

“Can’t focus,” Hermione simply states with a shrug. A smile was still plastered across her face – uncharacteristic for her. Ginny cocked an eyebrow, but Ron didn’t know better and enquired. 

“What exactly are you up to, Hermione? We’ve figured it’s got something to do with the twins, but other than that, we’re clueless. You did pretty well with hiding what you were doing.” Frowning, Hermione turned towards Ron, who was sitting next to her. 

“Sorry, I don’t want to spoil it. Plus, they are your brothers after all – you could tell them what I’ve planned. There wouldn’t be much they could do if they knew about my plan, but I’d rather be on the safe side. You never know with those two!” Hermione’s look was pleading, and Ron could see just how hard it was for her to not tell them anything. A few seconds passed before he gave her a lopsided smile, and threw an arm over her shoulder.

“It’s fine. I’d like to know, but I can understand why you’re keeping quiet. Hurts a little that you think we’d tell them though.” Pulling her close, Ron kissed the tip of her nose. A light blush tainted Hermione’s cheeks as he let her go, turning back to his sister. That gesture had been so innocent, and showed perfectly just what was going on between her and Ron. They had gone out a few times after the War, but always ended up fighting. She hadn’t known what to do about it, and Ron had been equally helpless. One night, without a warning, it all fell apart. Arguing already, they’d come home to the Burrow after watching a movie at a local cinema. Ignoring the rest of the family, they’d gone straight up to Ron’s bedroom to continue their row when Ron had suddenly told Hermione that he loved her. That he loved her only like a sister, and that their relationship wasn’t healthy for either of them. She’d been rendered speechless, hurt, and angry. All these years, Hermione had thought they’d end up together, have their happy ever after – just like Harry and Ginny. Before Ron could see her tears, Hermione had left that night. She stayed away from the Weasley’s house for a few days. Hiding out at her parents’ old house while they were still in Australia, and not talking to anyone during that time had seemed like a great idea at first. When she finally returned to the Burrow, everyone had been worried sick, though, but in the end, they understood that the time alone had been important for her. In isolation, she had realised that Ron had been right. Since then, they got along better, and were much closer than ever before. 

Shaking her head, Hermione cleared her thoughts and peered through the window. It seemed that they were just pulling into King’s Cross Station. As soon as the train stopped and the doors opened, students streamed out the carriages to be greeted by their families. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were picked up by Mr and Mrs Weasley, who quickly ushered them along to avoid the crowded platform. In London, the temperature wasn’t as low as in Hogwarts, but it was still snowing – quite heavily -, making it uncomfortable to be outside for too long. Nevertheless the group stopped in a quiet area in the Muggle section of the train station. Mrs Weasley gave them all a hug, complaining about their slightly peaky looks, and promising a good dinner for them. The four couldn’t but grin over Mrs Weasley’s never-changing behaviour, and even Mr Weasley had a smile on his face while his wife kept on muttering. He soon took his wife by the arm, and steered her toward the exit, though, and it didn’t take them long to find a secluded spot, where they could discreetly Disapparate. It was the quickest and cheapest way to get somewhere, and since they all had their Apparition Licences no-one was forced to Side-Along Apparate. 

To make their departure a little quieter, they Disapparated in turns. First, Mr Weasley left, taking the trunks of Ginny and Hermione with him. Following after him were Harry and Ron, each carting their own trunks. The girls Disapparated soon afterward, bringing Pig's cage only since the owl preferred to fly – even with all the snow. Mrs Weasley arrived at the Burrow last, forcing the group to sit at the kitchen table right away. As soon as they were in the kitchen, she yelled for the other residents to come down, and started preparing dinner. Much to everyone’s surprise, the first ones to come downstairs were the twins, who looked smug as an angry Percy followed shortly afterwards. Glaring daggers, he took a seat across from the twins, who had chosen to sit beside Hermione. 

“Not funny,” the older Weasley protested in a dangerously low voice when the twins simply chuckled about his stare. Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione glanced at Percy expectantly as he showed no obvious changes to his exterior, but he examined silent on the matter. Since neither Percy nor the twins were about to go into further detail, Ginny enquired what they had done.

“Oh, I don’t think Percy would like you to know,” George responded casually. Percy only grunted, face flushing red. Mrs Weasley looked at the twins suspiciously and was about to start lecturing them about pranking their own siblings when Charlie came down the stairs, causing her to drop the topic. Unlike his younger brothers, Charlie greeted his two youngest siblings, Harry, and Hermione enthusiastically. Since he still worked in Romania, he rarely got to see his family and was happy whenever the chance came up to be around them. Hermione couldn’t help but blush a little when Charlie pulled her in for one of his bone-crushing hugs – the second-eldest Weasley sibling was way too handsome, even with all his scars. 

The same could be said for Bill, who arrived at the table last with his wife, Fleur. The two looked a little dishevelled, but no one commented on it. Just like Charlie, they greeted the quartet quite enthusiastically before taking a seat with the rest of the family. With one last wave of her wand, Mrs Weasley put several bowls and plates of food on the table, everything smelling divine. In response, Hermione could feel her stomach rumble, and quickly grabbed one of the bowls containing potatoes. The dinner was loud as always, the whole family conversing over one another. After a while, Percy had calmed himself down, joined in the conversations, and apologised to both Harry and Hermione for his rudeness earlier. The twins and Ron snorted at this, while Ginny rolled her eyes – Harry and Hermione simply waved it off. Not for the first time, Hermione noted that the Weasleys were an incredible family. They all were different, yet they were still so close to each other, stood in for each other, and had a great time together. 

A sly smile spread across Hermione’s face when she realised she could use the noisy hubbub to talk quietly to the twin beside her: Fred. She nudged him to get his attention. The two of them would get one more chance to correct the mistake they had made the last time Hermione had talked to them in their shop. 

“You sure you don’t want to stop selling love potions?” she asked, looking straight into Fred’s eyes. The red head raised an eyebrow at her, chuckling. 

“Better give up on this matter, Granger. Yes, we’re sure we don’t want to stop selling them. They’re not as dangerous as you make them out to be, and they are one of our top selling products after all,” he argued, still amused by her advances. Hermione merely sighed. 

“That’s unfortunate. Very unfortunate indeed,” she murmured with a shake of her head. There was a glint in her eyes that gave Fred, just for a second, the chills. He tried to tell himself that he had just imagined it, but as the evening passed, he grew more restless. George had eavesdropped – he had to try hard just to make out what was being said – to the little exchange between Hermione and Fred, but had missed her look. That made it impossible for him to understand his brother’s reaction. Later, when they were back in their bedroom, Fred explained it to George. 

“Maybe she really does have a plan.” Fred was sitting on his bed, his gaze fixed on George, who was fiddling with one of their new products on the floor. His voice was a little uneven. 

“Bollocks!” George exclaimed then stopped talking for a few seconds. “Well, even if she has, we’re the pranksters. We have done everything possible to all kinds of people. She can’t surprise, or trick us. There is no trick we haven’t used before.” Clearly the prankster was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince his brother, because he too had started doubting that they were safe from Hermione. His brows furrowed, and he yelped when the little object in his hands exploded. It was only a small explosion, but enough to fill their room with smoke. 

“Bloody hell, George! Why are you always so careless with our stuff?” Looking for his wand, Fred began coughing. George ran over to the window and opened it, vanishing the smoke once he’d gotten a bit of fresh night air. 

“I didn’t plan on making it explode,” George retorted once the smoke was gone. His hands had slight burn marks, but it didn’t hurt too badly. “Besides, I only worked on it because you’re over-thinking Granger. So you better get me some Murtlap Essence, and quickly!” Fred laughed in response, but prepared the essence for his twin without a come-back. As soon as George’s skin met the cool liquid, a blissful sight left his lips, and he leaned back against a wall.

“You really think Hermione’s up to something?” George asked, focusing on Fred again. The other simply shrugged. 

“You didn’t see the way she looked at me.”

“She’s not just having a thing for you?” The suggestion from George made Fred roll his eyes and snort loudly. 

“Yeah, ‘course. Hermione Granger, bookworm and know-it-all, has a thing for me, someone who breaks rules on a regular basis.”

“Oh, come on! She seems to like the bad boy type. Did you see how she blushed when Charlie hugged her?”

“And now tell me how ickle Ronniekins fits in with that theory?” The two of them laughed, but George kept eying his brother carefully. The peaceful smile that had spread across his face was interesting. Maybe he didn’t mind the thought of Hermione and himself that much?


	3. Chapter 3

The last few days had passed in a blur for Hermione. In between helping Mrs Weasley with the Christmas preparations, and dodging pranks Fred and George tried to play on everyone, she barely had any time to fix up her own little plan. The potions had been ready since the beginning of the holidays, but now that she had a short moment on her own, she checked them again. Today they’d have to work – there would be no second chance. 

After putting the flasks – one marked with G, one with F – away, Hermione stretched out on her bed in the room she shared with Ginny. The witch was alone however as her friend had snuck off with Harry, which annoyed the Weasley boys to no end, because they wanted to play a round of Quidditch. After the couple was nowhere to be found, they simply started up a game without them. Fleur was downstairs in the kitchen, helping Mrs Weasley, and Mrs Weasley was in the little shack, where he stored his Muggle things. Rubbing her temples, Hermione enjoyed the rare silence for a moment as it helped her think. 

There was still one tiny problem with her plan: she didn’t know how to make the twins drink the potions. Since she worked hard on making the potions as inconspicuous as possible, she could simply put it in the twins’ drinks or their food, but they were always on their toes. Hermione doubted they would drink anything she gave them, simply because they were suspicious. Groaning, Hermione rolled onto her stomach and buried her face in her pillow. 

‘I guess dinner will be my best chance,’ she thought to herself while slowly getting up from her bed. Her excitement was barely contained as she walked down the stairs, leaving the house to watch the Weasley boys play Quidditch. With Harry, Ron, and Ginny as her best friends, the brunette couldn’t avoid the game forever. It didn’t necessarily mean she liked Quidditch, but she had developed a fondness for watching people play it. Hermione didn’t have to walk too far, yet both her cheeks and the tip of her nose were soon burning red. Her breaths came out in little white puffs, and once she found herself a nice place to watch the Weasley players, she used a heating charm on herself. Being a witch had its perks. 

It seemed that Ron and Charlie had chosen to team up together, with the twins and Bill completing the other team. Hermione wasn’t sure if that was really fair, but gathered that since Bill wasn’t as much of a Quidditch player as the other four, it probably balanced out. After watching a little while, she found that her prediction had been right. The twins were a perfect team, knowing each other so well, and Bill was a decent keeper, but Ron was just a bit better. Around his brothers he wasn’t under any pressure, and did quite well with catching the Quaffle. And then there was Charlie. The dragon keeper hadn’t lost any of his agility, and flew almost as well as Harry to dodge the twins time and time again. It was quite spectacular to watch, but after a while, the men signalled to each other to land. It was getting too dark to see properly, so the game came to an end. Once they had all landed, Hermione made her way over to them, pulled her coat a little closer around herself. 

“That was some stunning flying you did there,” Hermione complimented Charlie, a smile spreading across her features. 

“Oi, and what was it I did up there?” Ron nudged her with his elbow, smiling even as he raised his eyebrows. 

“And what about us?” the twins asked, each tugging lightly on one of Hermione’s curls. Hermione was glad that her cheeks were already burning red from the cold, because otherwise her embarrassment would have been more noticeable. 

“Well you. Hm.” Shaking her head and tipping index finger against her bottom lip as if deep in thought, Hermione stepped away from the twins. “I reckon you’re not too bad either.” At this reply, the twins snorted while their brothers laughed heartily. 

“I think it’s time to go back to the house. Mum and Fleur should have dinner ready soon,” Bill threw in, effectively ending their discussion of who flew how. His words were met with collective nodding, and everyone turned to walk back to the house. They’d only made a few steps before Fred suddenly made an observation. 

“Hey, Hermione, how come I’ve never seen you on a broom?” Hermione stopped in her tracks, slowly turning to Fred. Both Charlie and George looked at the girl with an obvious curiosity, while Bill and Ron only sniggered away. 

“Eergh…” A strangled sound came from Hermione’s throat, and she looked around as if to find something to change the topic to. That, however, only served to make the others look at her even more interested. 

“Hermione isn’t a good flyer. She almost didn’t pass the flying class in our first year,” Ron explained, much to Hermione’s horror. The damage done, she could see the twins thinking rapidly about this new bit of information, while Charlie joined in with Bill’s sniggering. Grumbling something unintelligently, Hermione started off towards the house again, but was stopped by Fred. Dragging her a few metres away from the others, he signalled them to go on ahead. 

“You know, I could show you how to ride a broomstick.” Raising her eyebrows, Hermione placed her hands on her hips. Fred realised how that must have sounded, yet simply went along with it, cracking a smile and wriggling his eyebrows in response. 

“Oh, so you’ve got a lot of experience with riding a broom… stick?” Hermione retorted after sighing exasperated. After another second, she even smirked up at Fred. Laughing out loud, Fred patted her on the shoulder.

“Come on, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you!”

Shrugging in defeat, Hermione let out a little sigh. She didn’t trust Fred much – she’d be stupid to, really – but he wouldn’t just drop her mid-air. It’d look somewhat suspicious. Besides, maybe it wouldn’t go as disastrously as in her first year. 

“Okay, then. How do we start?” The moment the words left Hermione’s lips, Fred looked delighted and walked back to the middle of the clearing. Looking expectedly at Hermione, he mounted his broom. The witch hesitated for a few seconds, but then went over to him. 

“Go on, sit in front of me.” Fred’s voice was encouraging, but it didn’t make Hermione feel much better. Nevertheless, she mounted the broom in front of the Weasley twin. Trying to get used to the somewhat uncomfortable broomstick, she squirmed about, which only served to irritate her teacher. 

“Oi, stop the squirming! Hold the handle, and don’t be scared. Just relax and enjoy it. I won’t let anything happen to you. When I push off the ground, you don’t even need to do anything for now.” While he spoke, Fred had leaned forward slightly and his warm breath tickled her cool skin. Tensing up, Hermione tightened her grip on the broom handle, which Fred seemed to notice, “Again, just relax.”

“Understood.” Taking a deep breath, Hermione tried to relax, but it was in vain as Fred chose that moment to kick off the ground. The movement made her slide back even further, forced her body closer to Fred’s. She could feel his whole form intimately behind her. With every breath he took, his chest moved against her back. His arms around her, his hands almost on top of hers. As surprising as it was, she did feel safe so close to him. 

“Are you alright?” Fred asked after they’d hovered approximately two metres above the ground for a good while, and she still hadn’t said anything. 

“More or less.” Hermione took a couple more deep breaths before she looked down. They weren’t as far up as she’d thought, and she was finally able to relax.

“What’s next?” Fred chuckled at the shortness of her question, but didn’t comment on it any further. 

“All you have to do now is lean forward,” he instructed. His chest pressed most firmly against her back as he leaned forward, and Hermione followed his motion. The broom started moving at a slow pace, which was clearly quick enough for Hermione. 

“This isn’t too bad,” she admitted, earning her only more chuckling from Fred. Before she could protest being laughed at, Fred spoke up again, “Well, if you want to go left or right, you just have to lean to the side a bit, but you should mainly use the handle. Simply push it in the direction you’d like to go.” Nodding slightly, Hermione tried to turn the broom to the left. Picking up on her intentions, Fred helped her along and they began to go around in circles. 

“Not too bad. Now try to stop the broom. Just pull the handle up and slightly lean back.” Listening intently, Hermione did as she was told and without any help, stopped the broom. 

“That was easy! To go down, I just have to move the handle downward, and lean forward, right?” 

“Exactly!” Pleased that Hermione was starting to show excitement for their short lesson, Fred hoped that meant he could possibly teach her more about flying some other time. For now, Hermione still needed help from him – especially now. They had started moving toward the ground, but the witch hadn’t pushed the handle down enough. With his guidance, they landed safely, and Hermione bounced off, seeming happy. 

“That wasn’t half bad, Hermione. Just some more practice, and you’ll be a decent flyer!” Fred enthused once they were walking back to the house, and Hermione’s face lit up. 

“I doubt it’ll ever be my favourite way of travelling, but it didn’t seem too bad just now. Maybe you can show me some more before we leave for Hogwarts again?” Although her voice was hopeful, Hermione suffered a quick pang of guilt. Fred had just helped her, been nice to her, and she’d actually asked for more lessons from him, but that didn’t mean she had abandoned her plan. Hermione still wanted to go through with it, and that realisation made her smile falter. 

“Hey, cheer up! Of course I’ll show you some more.” Putting his arm around her, Fred pulled Hermione closer to him. He seemed so careless, and as though he actually trusted her. 

“I would never have thought there’d be a thing I could teach the brilliant Hermione Granger.” Hermione couldn’t help but chuckle, and she playfully slapped the Weasley twin in response. 

“Oh, come on! Neither you, nor George, are stupid. You just weren’t interested in academics. Not everyone can be interested in academics.” Though Fred nodded in agreement, an uncomfortable silence fell between the two. For Hermione that was the case, because another thought had entered her mind. Was Fred only acting like this to mollify her? Hermione was glad when they reached the house and entered the kitchen with the rest of the family around to take her mind off of it. 

“Dinner will be ready in ten minutes!” Mrs Weasley chimed upon seeing the two. 

“Alright, I’ll go change quickly,” Fred muttered before rushing upstairs. Ron, Harry, and Ginny shot Hermione a questioning look as they paused in their duty of setting the table. Shrugging, she went upstairs as well, and into her bedroom. Changing her clothes, Hermione pocketed the potions and re-entered the kitchen a few minutes later. The majority of the family was seated around the table, with Charlie, Bill, and Ginny already deep in a discussion about something or other at one end. The seat beside Bill was kept free for Fleur, as she was still helping Mrs Weasley, who swirled around the kitchen, sending pans and pots fling everywhere. At the centre of the table, Harry and Ron were sitting with a free seat between them. It was obviously reserved for her, and Hermione gladly took it. 

Looking down the other end of the table, Hermione could see that Fred and Mr Weasley were animatedly talking about a new invention for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, or rather, how to improve it. Percy seemed to be listening to them, but didn’t try to help with the matter. George was the last one to come down, only showing up when Mrs Weasley had put all the food onto the table. 

After that, dinner was as loud and happy as always. However, despite the twins being distracted from time to time, Hermione didn’t get a chance to pour the potions into their drinks. The task turned out to be trickier than expected – not that she had thought it would be easy – and before going into the living room to sit down with the others, she pulled Ginny aside. 

“Gin, you’ve got to help me.” The red-haired witch raised an eyebrow, but waited for an explanation from her friend. In response, Hermione pulled out the two marked flasks. 

“One is for Fred, the other for George. It’s important not to mix them up. You can get them to take them, right?” Ginny furrowed her brows, and took the potions. 

“Sure. Love potions I take it?” Hermione nodded, and smiled at Ginny, who smirked back at her. Without any further discussion or questions, the two went into the living room, settled down in the big family circle, and waited. It didn’t take too long for someone to suggest hot drinks, just like so many other evenings before, and Ginny got up and offered to prepare them. 

‘Oh this is even better than slipping them the love potions during dinner,’ Hermione thought to herself, while her eyes wandered back to the door to the kitchen again and again. Shortly, she got distracted, because Mrs Weasley decided to have an early night and went upstairs, and Mr Weasley took that as his queue and went back to his shack to work on some more Muggle things. After they were gone, Bill and Charlie started telling them about some of their more interesting stories of their school time, and it didn’t take them long until everyone was laughing. Fred and George shook their heads, and were about to start on their stories when Ginny came back with the drinks. 

The younger witch quickly handed them out and then plopped down on the floor next to Hermione. Only a quick glance was exchanged between the two, an almost unnoticeable nod from Ginny, and Hermione had a hard time to keep her excitement from showing. Everyone had quieted down a little, sipped from their drinks, and it didn’t take long until Fred and George had taken a decent swig of their hot beverages. And so the show begins…


	4. Chapter 4

For the fraction of a second a shocked look of dawning realisation passed between Fred and George, but there was nothing they could do to stop the potion from working now. Hermione smirked as a sigh escaped from George’s mouth and his gaze fixed on Fred again. The other twin on the other hand did a bit of a carp impression while slowly turning to gape at one of his brothers. George wasn’t quite up to speed yet, so Fred could freely move, on all fours no less, to the object of his new-found affection.

“Percy,” he purred, batting his eye lashes and blatantly trying to be the most seductive he could be. Fred actually tried to seduce his older brother. With the exception of Hermione and Ginny, no one seemed to know what exactly was going on. After all, this could just as well be just another joke of the twins. George shrieked when Fred started to climb onto the lap of a completely stunned Percy, and threw himself at his twin. It was a vain attempt to get Fred to focus on him instead of their uptight brother, and it made the others come out of their astonished daze.

“What is going on?” Harry asked, sounding rather confused while the corners of Bill’s and Charlie’s mouths were twitching. All the while, Percy was trying to ward off his twin brothers, who had started to, more or less, argue with each other.

“Get off me, you prick. Let me get to my love,” Fred complained, lamely shoving at George. “Percy! Why aren’t you helping me? Don’t you want this to happen?” The wizard looked over his shoulder at Percy, didn’t pay attention to George, something the other twin wanted to correct as quickly as possible. Smack, George had pinned Fred to the floor.

“He could never love you like I do! Don’t you see that? Come on Fred, I’ve wanted you for so long,” George tried to talk sense into Fred, “I know how much mayhem turns you on, you know what it does to me.” There was a stunned silence before everyone with the exception of Percy and Fleur burst out laughing. Shaking his head, Charlie went over to the twins on the floor and separated them, which was a lot harder than anyone would have thought at first. George was still trying to hold on to Fred, but as soon as George’s weight had been lifted from the other man, he was moving over to Percy again. By now the others were aware that this must have been some kind of love potion experiment gone wrong, but Fleur tutted in distaste nonetheless. Percy had jumped up from his seat, getting away as far as possible from Fred, but only made it easier for Fred to push him against a wall.

“Oh, please. Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to do something this forbidden. You can be such a naughty boy, can’t you? A real animal in bed? Go on tell me all about it.” The seductive tone of Fred’s voice clearly got Percy flustered. The twin had gotten so close that he almost managed to nip at the corner of Percy’s mouth and grind his hips against his brother’s. Before Fred could go on, could actually go through with anything, Percy had already whipped out his wand and stupefied his brother.

The falling body was caught by Bill, who put Fred down on the sofa for now. George looked absolutely ghastly and started his struggle against Charlie’s grip once more. He looked worried and ready to kill, and it wasn’t clear which emotion was getting the better of him then. Thank Merlin Charlie had experience with wrestling dragons, because otherwise he probably wouldn’t have been able to hold back his younger brother.

“Calm down, George, he’ll be fine!” Percy growled in a stern voice. George blinked, utterly confused. After a second or two, he asked, “What just happened?” He stopped struggling against Charlie, and Hermione chuckled.

“So you were responsible for this?” Fleur asked the young witch and everyone’s eyes fixed on her.

“Really, Hermione? Was this your plan?” Ron enquired. Hermione couldn’t help but look a little smug.

“They wouldn’t believe me when I told them love potions were dangerous. I apologise to you, Percy,” she turned to the older man, who still stood there, wand drawn. “I just thought it would be a bit too awkward if they fell for each other and started snogging in front of us or something like that.” Hermione sounded innocent enough, but she didn’t fool her three best friends. This was her own little prank she played on Percy and she had enjoyed it. All the while George stared at Hermione, frowning.

“How come it suddenly ended?” he asked and shook off Charlie’s hands since the other man had loosened his grip on George’s arms.

“I modified the potions from your shop a little. You can time them, but I didn’t really expect either of you to get knocked out so quickly.” Hermione ran a hand through her hair.

“Also, you remember everything you did. I just hope that’s the case for Fred as well. I’m not sure how a stunning spell influences the effects of the potion.” George nodded, while the others slowly shook their heads.

“If you come up with an own potion for them, I really don’t want to know what you’ll do when people in the office will piss you off,” Charlie remarked. A low chuckle escaped Hermione.

“It was just that the two of them could us a bit of all this.” Except for Percy and Fleur, who looked rather appalled by the whole thing, the others agreed. George blushed ever so slightly, because he hadn’t thought the others would agree with Hermione when it concerned their pranks. The whole thing made him feel awfully uncomfortable, and in the end, all he did was clear his throat awkwardly and turn in for the night. With the help of Charlie he got Fred up to their room, and then went to bed as well. Slowly everyone else went upstairs as well only leaving behind Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione.

“I think you did well,” Ginny said.

“Yeah, those two were getting too cocky lately. This should stop them from playing too many pranks for a little while,” Ron agreed. Harry watched his friends discuss the evening, and gave Hermione a small smile when she looked at him questioningly.

“Well, I’m looking forward to tomorrow, but I think I’ll be going to bed as well. Good night.” Only a few minutes later, she was slipping into bed, feeling rather accomplished. As the witch was falling asleep, she heard Ginny come into the room as well. Not much later both of them were deep asleep, a smile on each witch’s face.

***

The events from the previous night were still fresh in everyone’s mind the next morning, even though it was Christmas Day. Everyone has assembled around the table in the morning to unpack the presents together. There was laughter, there was a few odd looks about some presents, there were the obligatory jumpers everyone got, and ended up wearing during breakfast. There was also awkward silence on the twins’ and Percy’s part, while the others made fun of them. Hermione soon realised that the twins were avoiding talking to her, and she gave up for that day. She would let them enjoy Christmas before pestering them about the potions again. At least that had been Hermione’s resolution up until she got stuck with Fred looking for the not as battered china. It took the witch quite a while to think about something to say. She had to get her point across properly this time.

“You and George shouldn’t avoid me. It doesn’t help being embarrassed about yesterday, you know? I would have been able to trick most people.” Her tone was condescending, the challenge so clear. Hermione wanted to get a rise out of Fred, and she wasn’t subtle about it. Fred scoffed at the obviousness of Hermione, turned around to face her, and locked eyes with her. For a good while he didn’t say anything, and she didn’t either.

“We’re not embarrassed about yesterday. Clearly, we let you prank us. Besides, it doesn’t change anything. Your prank didn’t prove anything,” he replied at last, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Hermione cocked an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips.

“Excuse me? You let me prank you? I don’t think so. That look of complete shock will forever be engrained in my memory. You didn’t know anything,” she clarified, and furrowing her brows went on, “And why on earth wouldn’t it prove anything?”

“Because you changed our potion! Whatever it was you used is not the product we’re selling! We’re selling a potion that’s far less dangerous!” The twin’s voice was calm, but he was gesturing with his hands and had stepped closer to Hermione. She had to look up to meet his eyes, and actual anger was showing on her face now.

“Your potions are just as dangerous! You give young witches and wizards easy access to love potions with the likelihood of abuse being really high.” She took a small step into his direction as well. “What did you feel when you tried to get it on with Percy yesterday?”

“Well…” Fred seemed to deflate minimally. “It felt real, like I was truly in love with him, but the main point of it all was wanting to do certain things to him.”

“Isn’t that exactly the same thing your potions do, too?” Hermione was well-aware of the effects of the love potions they were selling at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, but she wanted Fred to admit it.

“More or less.” More she wouldn’t get from him, and she sighed, shaking her head.

“Look… I know I changed the potion, but it was only a few small things to keep the awkwardness to a minimum. Your potions don’t have that. Your potions are just as dangerous, so please consider not selling them anymore.” They stared at each other for a few more seconds, neither one really willing to look away, and give up, but then Mrs Weasley yelled for them, asking what took so long. Suddenly they realised how close they’d been standing to each other. Quickly stepping away from each other, they dug up the china, and then quickly headed back for the kitchen, where Mrs Weasley tutted that it had taken them much too long.

***

Fred left the house and saw Hermione just standing there. The Weasley twin had shouldered a broom, and it seemed like he was going for a fly, but instead of pushing past Hermione, he stopped next to her and took a deep breath before speaking to her, “George and I talked it over. We’ll stop selling them, but there is one condition.” Hermione looked at Fred questioningly, tilted her head a little and waited for what else he had to say.

“If we ever need some help with other products, you’ll help us.” Smiling to herself, the frizzy haired witch nodded.

“Alright. Unless of course it’s something actually dangerous.” Fred laughed and nudged her with his elbow.

“We only ever make dangerous stuff, haven’t you noticed yet?” Chuckling, the two of them stood beside each other, staring up into the evening sky. Hermione rubbed the back of her neck, unable to bring herself to talk first. Finally Fred asked, “Want another flying lesson?” and on a whim held out his hand to her. Smiling, she grabbed it, and the two started their walk to the clearing.


End file.
